A football feast: Big Mac attack meets Dinos’ Alberta beef

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Barry Gray/The Hamilton Spectator

Calgary Dinos running back Mercer Timmis works out at Corpus Christi High School in his hometown of Burlington with teammates Thursday in preparation for Saturday's Canadian Interuniversity Sport Mitchell Bowl against the McMaster Marauders. Timmis is the great grandson of Brian Timmis, who was a star football player in the Canadian Football League for twenty seasons, mainly for the Hamilton Tigers and the Ottawa Rough Riders.

The gaudy, eye-popping offensive statistics for the Mitchell Bowl promise Hamilton football fans may be in for an aerial pigskin spectacular Saturday.

Maintenance staff may be adding more light bulbs to the Ron Joyce Stadium video board as you read this to handle the expected scoring onslaught.

Probably with good reason. The national semifinal between the Calgary Dinos and the McMaster Marauders features the best and second-best offences respectively in the nation.

Both clubs’ quarterbacks, the Dinos’ Eric Dzwilewski (pronounced de-LESS-KEY) and Kyle Quinlan are their respective conference nominees for the Hec Crighton Trophy as the country’s best university player.

And there is a big prize at stake. Winner gets to play for a national championship Nov. 23 at the Rogers Centre.

The other national semifinal goes Saturday and features the Acadia Axemen and the Laval Rouge et Or.

“These are the two highest octane offences in the nation, they put up points and yards just for fun, they get bored before they get tired,” Mac coach Stefan Ptaszek said Thursday.

Game time between the nationally No. 1-ranked, defending national champion Marauders and the No. 3-ranked Dinos is 4 p.m. As of Thursday afternoon there were still a couple of hundred tickets but the contest is expected to sell out at the 5,400-seat Joyce. TSN will have the national broadcast.

McMaster head coach Stefan Ptaszek knows all about the offensive weaponry. But the Mac coach is more concerned about the elephant in the room — namely the elephants that the Dinos employ on their offensive and defensive lines.

Heck, with this cattle crew up front Mac defenders may have trouble seeing Dzwilewski, (generously listed at 6-foot), never mind actually hitting him.

Defensively, the Dinos like to show a 30 front, meaning they like to rush just three. But the beef is sizable and ill-humoured, led by lineman Linden Gaydosh, a 6-4, 305-pounder ranked as the No. 2 prospect for the 2013 Canadian Football League draft.

Ptaszek said the Dinos, who are making their fifth consecutive appearance in a national semifinal, are the biggest squad Mac has faced in 2012.

“The three kids who are in there are not speed guys. They are all coming right at you, control-the-line-of-scrimmage types. And they are tough to move.

“On the offensive side, it is as big and dominant a group as we have seen across the board this year. Bigger than us, per man. I think we have a little bit more speed at spots. If they are pushing us around they are going to have some success,” he said.

At a media conference Thursday (the Dinos arrived at the Hamilton Sheraton just after midnight) both Ptaszek and Calgary bench boss Blake Nill were full of platitudes for the other’s program.

Nill had this to say: “The McMaster program is a first-class operation. I’ve told my young men that we’re going to have to play our best football of the year because there is no question this is the toughest program we have faced. They are well deserving of being ranked No. 1 in the country and they are doing a great job as defending national champions.”

Ptaszek countered with these niceties. “Coach Nill has them (the Dinos) wired for one thing and one thing only and that is to be a Vanier Cup champion. From top to bottom it is one of the best rosters I have ever seen in the history that I have been associated with Canadian interuniversity sports.”